Jack-o-Lantern's have been a very popular decoration to put up on Halloween for many years and sometimes you might ask "Where did they originate from I wonder?".
Well they originate from Ireland when The Legend of Stingy Jack came around. The story was from the 19th century about a man named Jack or his nickname Stingy Jack who invited the devil himself to have a drink with him, and true to his name Jack didn't want to pay for the drink so the devil turned himself into a coin for him to pay with.
But Jack wanted to keep it so he put him in his pocket by a silver cross and made the devil not claim his soul for 10 years. But God was not happy about this and didn't let him go to heaven but the Devil kept his word and he couldn't go to hell either, so he sent Jack into the dark night with nothing but a burning coal for a light source, and so Jack put the burning coal into a carved out turnip and has been roaming the Earth ever since.
When this story went out the Irish started to refer the ghostly figure as Jack of the Lantern and then simply Jack-O'Lantern. And so the people of Ireland and Scotland began to make their own Jack-o-Lantern starting a usual decoration for the rest of the world to follow.
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Michael 11/18/2024 ©